Leah Greenberg stood near the Capitol as the May Day economic blackout began, calling for an end to the power of elites and the abolition of kings. Hours later, her political allies in Congress were seen fawning over King Charles III. The No Kings movement, which mobilized thousands of workers for International Workers’ Day protests on Friday, suffered a catastrophic loss of credibility as Democratic lawmakers like Ilhan Omar and Don Beyer provided a standing ovation for the British monarch during his address to a joint session of Congress.

Rep. Don Beyer, who had recently spoke at a No Kings rally, was captured on camera smiling as the King entered the South Portico. This irony was not lost on the striking workers. In Georgia, rally-goers at the Augusta Judicial Center held Workers Over Billionaires signs while their representatives in Washington took selfies with a literal sovereign. The May Day Strong coalition, which includes the Democratic Socialists of America, intended the blackout to be a structure test for the movement’s power. Instead, it became a demonstration of the professional activist class’s total assimilation into the spectacle of power.

While the leaders fawn, the workers are actually winning small victories on the ground. Teamsters Local 727 reached a tentative agreement to end the strike at the Brookfield Zoo, securing wage increases and employer-paid healthcare for 100 staff members. This is the real rebellion—the quiet, hard-fought gains of the labor movement—which stands in stark contrast to the performative radicalism of the D.C. elite. The No Kings movement is being led by people who love nothing more than a crown, leaving the actual workers to fight the billionaires alone on the picket lines.